MOONLIGHT BARRY JENKINS MOVIE
Overall, race in the movie shows how the black community has shaped its identity with association with drugs that have increased poverty in society. The addiction-riddled society was pulled into a vicious circle of poverty. Eventually, in the third chapter, Chiron becomes Black, a drug dealer working in Atlanta. Thus, the story shows a complete cycle of addiction that cripples the black community in Miami. However, Juan is rendered speechless when Chiron’s mother accuses him of being her drug dealer (Williams 41). But when it was revealed that she too was a cocaine addict, Juan, Chiron’s surrogate father, chides her. Chiron was growing up with his single mother who was shown in an assistant nurse’s uniform in the first chapter. It is riddled with drug addiction and poverty. The African American community of Miami is the focus of the movie. This event alters Chiron’s character completely and he aggressively attacks and beats his tormentors. He is chided by his principal for not being a “man” for she believes that if he had been one then there would have been a few more boys sitting with him with broken noses ( Moonlight). When Kevin, his only compatriot, due to his aggressor’s sadomasochistic torment assaults him, Chiron refuses to lodge a complaint against any of them. Aggressive teenage hormones are expressed through blatant sex talk among black boys, which shows how the community shapes manhood among its youth. His classmates attack him mercilessly both verbally and physically. He is scrawny, lanky, taciturn, and scared. In the second chapter titled Chiron, the character is shown in his teens. Thus, this odd boy becomes the punching bag for his peers as well as his mother who tries to cope with single motherhood and drug addiction. Little is an odd presence in the highly energetic, boisterous black community that prizes sheer virile force. It shows how the community that has internalized the black stereotype marginalizes those who fail to adhere to their notions of masculinity (Semley 58). The poverty-stricken marginalized community is the focus of the film with no presence of white characters. The movie shows the internalization of the black stereotype that has been imposed on them through the ages. So he becomes an easy target of his peers who often refer to him as “faggot” ( Moonlight).
He is unable to adapt to the belligerent masculinity of the black community and becomes prey to his bullying classmates. Chiron, nicknamed Little in the first chapter of the film, is confused and vulnerable. Chiron’s silence is symbolic of the voiceless black homosexual community. This creates a voiceless character maintaining a dramatic reticence throughout the movie. As a boy, Chiron grows up with a drug-addict mother in a loveless family environment and is bullied at school. The film episodically shows the growing up of Chiron in three chapters – first as a boy, then as a teenager, and then as an adult in mid-twenties. Aggression becomes the symbol of male identity that is accentuated by heterosexual male sexuality. The aggressiveness with which young boys bully the silent and weak shows how the community frames the mind of young boys. Though the movie shows no explicit violence, yet its presence is all-pervading. Drug abuse and violence were common issues. The black community in the 1980s Miami was very aggressive were young boys, especially teenagers, felt the pressure to become overtly violent. The identity crisis of a homosexual black boy struggling to adjust to the aggressive masculinity and violence are the other racial and sexual issues discussed in the film. The issues that emerge in the movie are related to manliness, poverty, and drug abuse in the black community. It is about a gay black boy growing up in a society replete with poverty, drug abuse, and aggressive masculinity. However, the movie is much more than that.
Moonlight is a coming of age film about a black boy in the 1980s Miami. Issues related to sexuality becomes imminent through (1) homophobic treatment of anyone who does not follow the masculine construct of the society, (2) silent negation of their intrinsic inclinations that creates identity crisis among homosexuals, and (3) marginalization of the homosexuals within the excessively aggressive black community. Racial issues of the African American community are demonstrated through (1) aggressive Black masculinity that demeans anyone who is too soft or weak, (2) drug abuse and addiction, and (3) dysfunctional families and its effect on children.
The movie is replete with images of race and sexuality.
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